Sauber stagnated in 2002, which was a shame for them after belying in 2001 years of midfield obscurity by producing a good car and going on to finish fourth in the constructors' championship.

The Swiss outfit were not exactly flush with cash in 2002, which perhaps explains their inability to capitalise on the undoubted progress they made in 2001.

Another way of looking at it was that their major competitors dreadfully under-performed last year, and that one of them – Renault – got their act together for 2002.

Sauber remained the best of the rest behind the big four, doing just enough to fight off Jordan, Jaguar and BAR.

But the impression - a familiar one with Sauber - was of a team treading water.

That had been the overriding impression of Sauber in recent years, and it tended to back up team owner Peter Sauber’s contention that the improvement in 2001 had been in the driver line-up, not the design of the car.

Nick Heidfeld consolidated his reputation as a driver who has a future, but new team-mate Felipe Massa proved to be a step back from Kimi Raikkonen.

Sauber continue to do an admirable job considering the restricted size of their budget and the increasing seriousness of the manufacturer-backed teams.

But, in stark contrast to 2001, in 2002 you would often have been hard pressed to notice that they were there.

It is difficult, as the stakes get ever higher in F1, to see how they can go about changing that.